Background
Alabama Credit Union, established in 1956 to serve the University of Alabama community, has grown to serve members across Alabama and parts of Florida. With 34 locations and 151,000 members, the credit union boasts $1.9 billion in assets and a reputation for personalized service and financial excellence. Today, Alabama Credit Union uses Alacriti as its primary payments portal for on-time payments for members.
Needing a Change in Loan Payments
Before adopting Alacriti’s Orbipay EBPP (electronic bill presentment and payment) loan payments solution in 2020, Alabama Credit Union faced significant limitations with its previous payment solution. The lack of a member-facing portal meant payments had to be scheduled through staff, restricting accessibility and self-service options. The absence of core integration compounded the inefficiency, leading to manual processes and delayed postings. “Prior to Alacriti, our payment portal was very rudimentary. Payments had to be scheduled either in the contact center or in the branch, which meant that members had no access outside of business hours, and there was no self-service option at all,” said Dustin Kizer, Digital Services Director for Alabama Credit Union. Alabama Credit Union wanted a self-service payment option that also allowed them to spin up guest web payments very quickly.
Alabama Credit Union’s previous loan payments EBPP solution had a very high fee structure and no core integration. Also, although it had an online solution, Alabama Credit Union never fully launched it to its members because it required complete enrollment, requiring the user to create a separate login from their online banking. Recovering those logins was a burden to their members and call center, so they shut it down. Members were only able to pay by phone. Payments were manually credited to each loan by the phone agent in order to provide immediate credit for the member and for the payment to reflect in online banking the same day. However, Alabama Credit Union would have to settle it on the backend a couple of days later. Because of this, a lot of errors were made. It was an inefficient process that they were able to streamline with Alacriti with the live core integration.
Why Orbipay EBPP Loan Payments Solution?
The decision to partner with Alacriti and adopt Orbipay EBPP stemmed from its ease of enrollment, core integration capabilities, and flexibility. Alacriti quickly deployed a payment portal, enabling self-service options and real-time payment experiences for members. Core integration streamlined payment processing, eliminating manual tasks and improving efficiency. In addition, Alabama Credit Union can curate a payment experience for members depending on the loan type and their entry point into the system.
“Partnering with Alacriti has been the best decision for Alabama Credit Union. Their expertise, support, and adaptable solutions have enabled us to grow a sustainable payment channel and enhance our member experience. Alacriti truly lives up to its name, providing swift and cheerful readiness every step of the way.”
Benefits
Alabama Credit Union experienced a multitude of benefits following the implementation of Orbipay EBPP:
Enhanced Member Experience: Guest web payments and enrolled web options provide members with convenient and accessible payment methods, leading to an 80% reduction in payment-related calls to the contact center. “Guest web is by far our favorite payment option. Over half of our payments come through there just because it’s so simple for someone to drop by, make a one-time payment, and leave,” Kizer shared. Alabama Credit Union has seen a boost in online banking enrollments, with members using options such as Guest Pay, Autopay, one-time payments, and ACH.
Improved Operational Efficiency: Core integration automates payment posting and reconciliations, saving significant time and resources for staff. The Payment Center portal streamlines payment processing and training for contact center agents. Digital banking integration makes it possible to offer one-time and autopay payments there. “After we launched the EBPP guest payments, we saw an 80% reduction in payment-related calls to the contact center. Since then, we’ve been able to grow our payment channel up to 95 million in process payments without having to add additional dedicated payment agents,” Kizer said.
Growth: The credit union witnessed remarkable growth in 2023. Orbipay EBPP assisted in a 94.5% increase in transaction value, a 76% increase in transaction volume, and a 49% increase in member fees. Orbipay EBPP’s skip-a-pay feature allows members to skip payments for a fee. Alabama Credit Union’s skip-a-pay promotions generated $81,000 in fee income, demonstrating Orbipay EBPP’s fee income potential. The Guest web feature was also instrumental for Alabama Credit Union to have a strong indirect member program.
Reporting: “The depth of reporting was a surprise for us. We had focused so much on the member experience and creating these different experiences depending on the loan that we were really relieved when we started processing it that we had such in-depth reporting and supervision of the payment channels,” said Kizer.
Employee Experience: Alabama Credit Union’s employees love the Payment Center because they can easily toggle between their different payment channels. Scheduling a payment takes only a couple of clicks if the payment source is already on file. And because of the core integration, they’re done with the payment the second they hit ‘schedule payment’ and ‘payment center.’
Support: “The Alacriti support teams have been super helpful. Our project leads have been knowledgeable about the platform and helpful guiding us through implementation, and the regular support tickets are answered rapidly and thoroughly. In fact, the support team was even able to create a custom queue for us with our core integration that identifies when a payment might have posted or resulted in an error so that our team can identify them before the members report an issue,” Kizer shared.
Future Plans
Looking ahead, Alabama Credit Union aims to further enhance its member experience and payment options:
- Launching an IVR platform to cater to members’ preferred auditory experiences, allowing a touch-tone option 24/7 for those who don’t want to go through a web experience.
- Introducing an offline payment channel branded as QuickPay for members averse to internet-based transactions.
- Leveraging Alacriti’s support and expertise to continue optimizing payment processes and exploring innovative solutions.
Alabama Credit Union’s successful adoption of Orbipay EBPP shows the transformative power of innovative payment solutions in improving member satisfaction, operational efficiency, and revenue generation. Through strategic partnerships and a commitment to digital transformation, the credit union continues to lead in providing exceptional financial services to its members. “Partnering with Alacriti has been the best decision for Alabama Credit Union. Their expertise, support, and adaptable solutions have enabled us to grow a sustainable payment channel and enhance our member experience. Alacriti truly lives up to its name, providing swift and cheerful readiness every step of the way,” said Kizer.
